Jon Roberts

After qualifying as a primary school teacher, I worked as a TEFL teacher and teacher trainer for International House in Libya and London (1969 -1973) and then for the Instituto Anglo-Mexicano in Mexico City (1973 - 1976). I was a lecturer at the Centre for Applied Language Studies, Reading University from 1977 to 2003. My duties there included teaching and supervision at Masters and PhD level, course design and administration, and distance course writing and tutoring.

In 2003 I completed my PhD thesis Personal and Professional Identity Re-Construction of Young Mature Student-Teachers in the Context of a PGCE Course under the guidance of Professor Maureen Pope and Professor Pam Denicolo. In it I applied Personal Construct Psychology to the study of student-teachers' perceived personal and professional identity development.

 

I was an Associate Fellow at the Centre for English Language Teacher Education (CELTE), University of Warwick from 2004 to 2007. In December 2006 I was appointed Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Education, University of Reading for a period of three years. I am interested in the role perceptions of those whose voices are often ignored in the processes of education such as teacher-trainees, students and test candidates. Recent projects focus on EAP students' perspectives on formative and summative assessment; and the development of a French language diagnostic test for trainee-teachers led by Professor Brian Richards, University of Reading Institute of Education.

 

Experience

       Overseas Project Consultant

       My experience includes work in the following countries:

  • China (British Council: Tertiary English teacher training);

  • Colombia (British Council: Language curriculum development);

  • Egypt (British Council: English secondary school teacher training, trainer training);

  • France (Ministry of Agriculture, France: Lycee Agricole teacher training);

  • Spain (Ministry of Education, Galicia: Secondary teacher training; National Ministry of Education: INSET coordinator training);

  • Germany (Adult Education, Lower Saxony: Teacher training);

  • Mexico (British Council: Teacher Training Instituto Anglo-Mexicano Guadalajara);

  • Nepal (Overseas Development Agency, ODA: Secondary school English teacher training project evaluation);

  • Paraguay (ODA: English teacher tertiary training, secondary curriculum development);

  • Venezuela (British Council: Tertiary English language curriculum design); Mexico (British Council: Tertiary English teacher training);

       External Examiner

       University of Edinburgh M.Ed. TESOL 2000-2004
       University of Exeter B.Phil. (Ed)/M.Ed.TESOL 1999-2002,
       University of Surrey St Mary's M.A. App. Ling. 1991-1996